The Crucifixion, Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Written By Bishop V. Bush

Is Easter biblical or is it false? Should the people of God celebrate Easter? Since Easter is centered on the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we should find out what the scripture says about his crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The bible states, “They that worship the father must worship him in spirit and in truth” . If we worship God in any way that is not true, then it makes our worship in vain.

Was Jesus Christ crucified on Friday the sixth day of the week as some say? If you teach that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, as many do teach, this does not coincide with the scriptures concerning the crucifixion and resurrection.  Jesus said in John 7:38  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” . So you must understand that there are things that have been taught about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that these things have been documented in the scriptures.  The scripture states how many days Jesus Christ should be in the grave. It states the time of the day that Jesus Christ was put on the cross. It also states what part of the day he was put in the grave. Paul said in I Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” So, since the scripture has documented the day of the week and also the burial date, our teachings must be consistent with the scripture as Paul’s teachings also were consistent with the scripture. Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” So, we cannot say that Jesus Christ would have been put in the grave on part of a day and it count as a whole day because that would be contrary to what the scripture said.

You must also remember that the scripture said in Genesis Chapter 1 “… the evening and the morning were the first day”, “the evening and the morning were the second day”,”…the evening and the morning were the third day…” and so on. In order to be consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, here day and night would have to be evening and morning, not part of a day.

You also have to take into account what the bible says in Jeremiah Chapter 10:1-3 “Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain…”  When God set time up, he put night in front of day, not day in front of night. But we picked up the custom of the Romans, which is considered as heathen, by starting the day in the middle of the night. This caused us to loose the biblical way that God set up things. At the time we broke away from the order that God gave the Hebrew people, day began at the dark period of the day.  The evening and the morning were the first day, etc. When we go back to scripture order, the next day always began at 6 PM. Twelve hours of dark period and twelve hours of light period consist of one day. So when a day is completed, the next day picks up at 6PM and goes a total of 24 hours. At the closing of the 24 hours, the scripture call that even. The first day of the week is Sunday, and after the 24-hour period is ending of the first day of the week, the dark period of the second day begins at 6 PM. The custom of the heathen call it evening, and they say this is Sunday night, which is incorrect. This is the beginning of the second day of the week, which is Monday. This is why the people are confused about which day Jesus Christ was crucified on.

We take into account that Jesus Christ was arrested the fourth day of the week, (the day we call Wednesday) in the garden of Gethsemane at night and was taken away to Caiaphas’ house. All night they interrogated him and finally brought a false accusation against him. In the morning of the fourth day of the week, (which is Wednesday morning) they carried him away to Pilate. You will find in Mark 15:1 “And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.” So if you look at the scripture in Mark 15:1, they took Jesus Christ to Pilate’s house at night and they arrested him in the garden of Gethsemane. They bound Jesus, carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. The 25^th verse states, “And it was the third hour, (which mean it was about 9AM) and they crucified him.”  This was Wednesday morning. The 33^rd verse states, “And when the sixth hour was come, (which was around noon) there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” This was about 3Pm in the evening.  Now in the 34^th verse it states, “And at the ninth hour…” (which was about 3PM in the evening). In the 42^nd verse, “And now when the even was come (which was about 6PM) because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath...” So you can see by this 42^nd verse that the day Jesus Christ was crucified on had ended before they took him off the cross.

When the scripture says, “...when even was come...”, this mean it was the beginning of the next day.  I will take time to explain this.  As I have fore stated above, picking up the custom of the heathens misguided us by putting day before night.  We have to go back to God’s order. Now let’s look at Genesis 1:13 “And the evening and the morning were the third day.” So you can see that the beginning of the day began in the dark period. From verse 1-13 we see that “the evening and the morning was the first day, the second day, the third day, etc.  This proves that night is in front of day, not day in front of night as we say today. So if you say Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, this would put him in the grave on Saturday even, and if he was out of there on Sunday morning, that is not three days and three nights.  It is only two nights and one day if you say he was crucified Friday.

Now in order to get three days and three nights and have Jesus Christ out of the grave on Sunday morning, Wednesday will have to be the day that Jesus Christ was crucified on.

All right, let’s go through it.  He was put on the cross about 9AM the fourth day of the week, which is Wednesday, and was upon the cross all day Wednesday. Mark 15:42, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation (that is the day before the Sabbath) this mean that was the beginning of Thursday night, the fifth day of the week.  At the 46^th verse, “And he bought fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the linen and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.”   All right, Jesus Christ was in the grave all night Thursday and all day Thursday.  One day and one night. He was in the grave all night Friday and all day Friday, two days and two nights. He was in the grave all night Saturday and all day Saturday, three days and three nights. You might ask what time of the day did Jesus rise?  My answer would have to be I don’t know because the bible doesn’t say.  But I know Jesus was in there long enough for it to be three days and three nights.  Very early Sunday morning when they went to the grave, they found that Jesus Christ had already risen. Mark 16:2 “And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun… the 6^th verse states… “And he saith unto them, be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here…”

Let’s look at the diagram outlining the days and nights of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

First Night and Day

So if you say Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, this is what you would have, which is a total lie.